The Sims 4 High School Years truly excels when it comes to building personalities for teen Sims, and wonderfully captures teen moments like asking your crush to prom or starting drama online. Although somewhat dampened by its large amount of useless set pieces, the world of Copperdale is quite beautiful and the perfect setting for high school. The lack of depth and functionality in some elements of The Sims 4 High School Years Expansion Pack is particularly disappointing because of how deep other features of the game go, but the title does an excellent job overall of encapsulating most of the key parts of adolescence.
While players shouldn't go into Monorail Stories expecting a Telltale Games-level of branching storylines, it's a simple and charming title that despite its elements of conflict is an overall relaxing player experience. The replay aspect of the game ensures nothing ever feels too high stakes - if players make a mistake, they can simply readjust their approach the next time around. While the repeated playthrough element may not be for everyone, it's an interesting concept that's easy for players to jump into for short play sessions. Although sometimes repetitive, Monorail Stories tells a mostly engaging and charming story that seems to have a bright future ahead of it.
Harvestella is a game full of immersive environments, beautiful music, and an engaging and meaningful narrative for both its world and main characters, which is enough to redeem the game's more mediocre elements. There are several areas of Harvestella, like it farming, animations, and social simulation elements that would have greatly benefited from more depth and care put into them, but despite these flaws the game manages to be incredibly addictive. It's easier to notice these issues when comparing Harvestella to games like Rune Factory, but standing on its own Harvestella is a fairly strong title that's worth players' time. It may not be perfect, but it's very easy for players to fall into a "just one more day" loop in Harvestella nonetheless as they uncover the mysteries of its universe.
Dwarven Skykeep prides itself on being incredibly hard to master, which is either a pro or con depending on the player. The game only has two difficulty levels, the lowest of which is Hard, and levels are meant to largely require multiple tries prior to victory. The game's boss battles are particularly challenging, which means they also provide a solid sense of satisfaction once beaten. Dwarven Skykeep is definitely best for RTS and tower defense fans, as it includes more of these elements in its moment-to-moment gameplay than it does deckbuilding, and certainly isn't for those who prefer the ability to adjust a game's challenge. While Dwarven Skykeep doesn't deeply reinvent any of the genres it borrows from, the way it combines them is very worthwhile, and alongside a silly and entertaining - albeit simple - storyline, Dwarven Skykeep comes off quite well-rounded and enjoyable.
Depending on how long each puzzle takes players, Lucy Dreaming will run about eight to ten hours, and although the game's eventual conclusion falls a bit short, this time spent still mostly feels worthwhile. Despite this lackluster final plot beat and occasional elements of tedium, Lucy Dreaming overall comes off incredibly charming thanks to its fun pixel style, entertaining and fully-voiced characters, and creative puzzle mechanics. For any fan of the classic point-and-click adventure genre, Lucy Dreaming is much more of a dream than a nightmare.
Centering around simple minigames and slice-of-life stories, Fall of Porcupine isn't an incredibly complex title at its core, but it still manages to feel meaningful. This year is full of games billed as cozy and wholesome, but this one manages to set itself apart through an interesting healthcare focus, quaint aesthetics, and impactful characters. Although it's not perfect, Fall of Porcupine is a great option for players looking to have a unique and emotional journey that may very well make them shed a few tears.
At its core, Rune Factory 3 Special maintains the elements of the original fans know and love, but doesn't do a lot to innovate beyond its graphics.
As a whole, Party Pack 10 presents a diverse showing of minigames that can appeal to a wide audience of players. The weaker links like Hypnotorious are easier to overlook thanks to its cohorts like FixyText and Tee K.O. 2, and even the titles that don't quite stick the landing bring some interesting ideas to the table. This is a worthy pickup for party game fans in general, and for longtime fans of the series The Jackbox Party Pack 10 presents a fun blend of new ideas alongside improved-upon old ones.
Despite these missing quality of life features, SteamWorld Build still manages to be fairly addicting. Sense of progress is consistent enough even with occasional moments of waiting, and making discoveries feels rewarding enough to keep things engaging. The varied environments found throughout the game all feel uniquely designed, and accompanied by the blend of ambient sounds and satisfying soundtrack, the world as a whole comes off as intriguingly charming. Though it may not feel absolutely complete in its systems, SteamWorld Build is still a worthwhile venture for players looking for a creative new management sim.
Chinatown Detective Agency is a superbly told story with memorable characters and incredibly engaging gameplay. The unique noir-style take on Carmen Sandiego presents a strong, admirable protagonist that strives to be the hero even in the darkest of times, while provoking the question of what heroism really means. The game's case-cracking gives the player a true feeling of accomplishment and justice-served, with the added bonus of learning about interesting new topics. The game's greatness makes the fact it cannot be finished even more disappointing - without the large bugs, Chinatown would be a nearly flawless game. However, under the assumption the development team is able to make the necessary changes to the game, Chinatown Detective Agency has the potential to become a great modern point-and-click adventures.
However, despite these frustrations players will likely still find themselves returning to Potion Permit for hours at a time - it's incredibly easy to get in a "just one more day" loop despite some of the game's duller moments, because the puzzling and progression elements like improving as a chemist, forging friendships, and upgrading the clinic are so satisfying. At its core, Potion Permit is a unique and cozy indie game that clearly has a large amount of effort and ambition behind it, which helps it overcome some - but not all - of its flaws. For players looking to sink dozens of hours into a different style of simulation title, brewing up a life in Potion Permit may be just what the doctor ordered.
Wobbledogs isn't perfect, and players looking for an incredibly involved pet simulator or a sandbox game with satisfying crafting loops will likely be disappointed. However, for those who don't mind a more idle playstyle, Wobbledogs offers a strange, charming experience, albeit a fairly simple one both in terms of its graphics and gameplay. The game's gut flora and breeding mechanics are fun to experiment with, whether players are setting out to simply make the cutest pup or test the game's laws of nature. While the game might not scratch the itch of a player looking for an involved pet simulator, Wobbledogs is a great source of silly, open-ended, sandbox fun.
Homestead Arcana's world is creative and the lore that unravels about the player's family history is interesting, particularly when it comes to Huck, who's voiced by the impeccable Yuri Lowenthal. It's clearly designed to be a slow-paced game, which in its own right isn't a bad thing, but some of the ways it goes about achieving this can feel frustrating. However, for those willing to sink the time in, Homestead Arcana could be a good fit for players looking to journey through a magical story alongside an adorable companion.
This latest Sims 4 DLC delivers exactly what it claims to and little more. Were this a Game Pack there would be nothing wrong with that, but with the steeper price tag of an Expansion Pack the areas that barely scratch the surface of what they could be or remain unexplored entirely are more glaring. That being said, Chestnut Ridge is beautiful and several elements of the EP are legitimately fun despite these flaws, and players who have long been clamoring for horses in the game will certainly want to pick up The Sims 4 Horse Ranch - it just may be worth waiting for a sale.
Depending on the path players take and if they utilize the scene-skipping function, a run through of The Isle Tide Hotel will generally last about one and a half to two hours. The many ideas introduced in the game could've been explored more with a longer run time, but it's fairly satisfying to go back through multiple times to discover new endings and not have it take a huge amount of time. While it's not quite as creepy or deep as it intends to be, The Isle Tide Hotel offers an inspired environment to explore and engaging acting that make the title mostly worthwhile for the price.
Paleo Pines is by no means a bad game - it presents creative new mechanics and is a clear winner for any players who are big fans of dinosaurs. The experience just feels like it could've used a bit more time in the oven to perfect things like its graphics, direction, and the depth of its characters. It may not be perfect, but Paleo Pines offers a laid back and lighthearted adventure across a dinosaur-covered world that's well-suited for any player looking for a relaxing Jurassic adventure.
At its core, this latest entry in the Just Dance franchise is essentially exactly what players have come to expect. The always-online and subscription components, coupled with a focus on the future at the expense of the present makes this particular title not stand out from its peers. However, a solid song collection and creative routines still makes Just Dance 2024 something probably worth picking up for fans of the series who look forward to a new lineup each year.
The world of Tomarang is beautiful, and there are several meaningful cultural inclusions like recipes and furniture that will undoubtedly help some players better reflect their own life experiences in-game and tell more meaningful stories. The EP may not add as many impactful features as a release like Growing Together, but the renting mechanics will help bring creativity into entirely new places both in terms of building and gameplay. The Sims 4 For Rent is by no means perfect, but it nails its titular feature and adds more overall creative potential to the game than many other recent releases for the franchise.
The world is full of beautiful locales, and seeing beloved characters like Teemo and Rumble not only brought to life but made incredibly entertaining is a lot of fun. With a lower price and a slew of content, the title is a delightful new way for fans to delve into the world, and contains hallmark mechanics that make it worth a look for cozy players even if they aren't familiar with LoL. Despite its lulls and occasional overcomplications, Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story is an adorable, imaginative take on an established universe that has a lot to offer.
Acolyte of the Altar is a creative deckbuilder.